


seeking revenge

by MaddieandChimney



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: F/M, TW: Blood, TW: Violence, tw: historic domestic violence, tw: knife, tw: stalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25820941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney
Summary: "It is difficult to fight against anger, for a man will buy revenge with his soul." - Heraclitus.Something has been off for weeks, Maddie feels as though she's being watched. She just really thought she had moved on from the Kendall drama, only for Doug's sister to turn up seeking revenge for her brother's death.
Relationships: Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16
Collections: Madney One-Shots





	seeking revenge

Something has been off for weeks. Maddie can’t explain it, she can’t quite put her finger on it but it’s a feeling she can’t shake. As though she’s being watched, an impending sense of doom overtaking her thoughts until she can’t think of anything else. Part of her believes it’s because she’s pregnant, constantly waiting for the next nightmare to begin. Having Howie’s baby seems too good to be true, she feels almost… too happy, if that was a thing. Everything was working out in the way she had always wanted.

Maddie should have known to trust her instincts, that’s her first thought when she feels an all too familiar object being pressed against her back the moment she reaches her apartment door. “Unlock the door.” It’s a voice she hasn’t heard in years but it brings her straight back to the Kendall dinner parties, sitting around the table across from the woman she can feel breathing against the back of her neck and just always feeling her eyes on her. As though she was waiting for her to crack; she and Doug had fallen on opposite ends of the scale somewhat. Doug hated his dad with everything inside of him but had adored his mother, and yet somehow, still ended up being just like his father. His sister, Emily had blamed everything entirely on their deceased mother and looked up to her dad as though he was her entire world.

The only person she loved more than her dad was Doug.

Maddie had hidden the letters she had received after Doug’s death, she had pushed them to the back of her mind when eventually, they had stopped. And she had found herself hoping that Emily had simply moved on with her life, just as Maddie wanted to do. She can’t help but feel like a complete idiot as she unlocks the door to the apartment she shares with Chimney, suddenly finding herself wishing he wasn’t on a twenty-four hour shift that night. Emily must have known that, she must have been watching her for weeks at least.

It’s seconds before she finds herself being pushed into the apartment, stumbling ever so slightly before she manages to compose herself just enough to finally turn around and look at the woman. She was only a year younger than Doug, the two of them so strikingly similar in every way possible and not all of those ways at all appealing., Looking at her eyes is just like looking into Doug’s, especially when she’s fixating on her so much hatred.

“My boyfriend will be home soon.”

“No he won’t, he gets off work in…” She watches as she looks at her watch, “Ten hours.” Maddie feels sick in the knowledge that she knows that, gulping down the lump in her throat as she shakes her head.

The knife the woman is holding out in front of her points towards Maddie’s stomach, “I see you’ve done well for yourself. Moved on so easily from murdering your husband.”

Maddie’s chest tightens, a hand moving over her bump as though on instinct. At twenty-two weeks pregnant, she’s still getting used to her growing stomach and to the feeling of her daughter moving inside of her. She’s just started to think of names with Chimney, the two of the imagining their daughter from the moment they found out she was carrying a girl and Maddie knows in that moment that she has to do everything she possibly can to survive to protect their child.

“You know it wasn’t like that.” She’s suddenly taken back to the police walking into her hospital room in the days after Doug’s death. The constant questions, she can still feel Athena protectively holding her hand, often snapping answers back to the officers who were only doing their jobs. She wishes she was there now, Maddie often finds herself wondering what Athena would do but she’s at a complete loss in this situation – what the hell would the strong woman that she admires so much do if her dead husband’s sister turned up with a knife, hell bent on causing destruction?

Emily laughs, “You literally got away with murder. He loved you so much, you were everything to him. He gave you everything and you still—you’re just like our mother. Ungrateful, spiteful… weak.”

It takes everything within her to push down the anger that pulsates through her body right then, her fingers curling around the fabric of her top when she takes another step back. The air around her is suddenly tight, she feels flush, her chest tightening with every passing second. Maddie’s mind is scrambling for the answers on what to do, on how she can protect the still unnamed child growing inside of her before she takes a breath and bites down on her lip. “You’re right, you’re totally right—I um, I should have stayed. I should have—tried harder to make it worth. I should have been a better wife, okay?” The words taste bitter on her tongue, still forcing back the anger she truly feels right then when she looks at the woman in front of her. “But I can’t change it, I can’t take it back—I’m pregnant, Emily, please… if you leave now, I won’t tell anyone.”

It’s the desperation in her tone towards the end that she thinks gives her away or the panicked expression on her face that she hadn’t hide no matter how hard she tries. She’s fought for her own life before, she’s fought for the lives of others but this is different. She’s carrying a child who needs her to come out of this as unharmed as possible. So, she has to supress every instinct within her that tells her to lunge forward and just grab the knife, knowing it might not end well for her.

“I saw his body, Maddie, I saw what you did to him.”

“You didn’t see what he did to me.” She can’t hold it back and it’s enough to force the other woman forward, a hand flying towards her before Maddie can register it. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been, the sting of the slap and the sound of her palm hitting skin, the way her head snaps to the side and her own hand flies to cover her face… it’s all muscle memory, every slap, kick, pull of her hair, hands around her throat, everything lives within the back of her mind ready to rear it’s ugly head within seconds.

When the weight on her chest begins to grow even heavier, Maddie can feel herself close to breaking point, tears causing her eyelids to close in an attempt to hold them back. “You’re still alive, aren’t you?”

“Only because he’s dead, you have to see that. He stabbed someone, he left an innocent man on the concrete to bleed to death, he shot a stranger who tried to help me—he stabbed me… he was going to kill me.”

“So it was you or him and you chose him.” The grip on the knife grows tight, the motion enough to force Maddie back some more until she feels herself hitting the edge of the couch, her entire body trembling.

Her voice is weak when it finally comes out, the tears finally falling, “Wouldn’t you have done the same?”

It’s too much, she’s lost the upper hand, if she even had one in the first place. The way Emily’s face flashes with the kind of rage Maddie has seen before, forces her to make a run for it towards the bathroom, knowing it’s the only room in the entire apartment that locks and should give her just enough time to call for help as her phone seems to way heavy in her pocket.

If only she can make it in time just to lock the door.

A hand yanking at her long hair is the only thing that stops her from carrying out her plan, letting out a frustrated sob the moment her body is pulled back into Emily’s. “Please.”

“Did my brother beg for his life, too?”

Maddie’s quick to shake her head as the tears pour, wrapping both her arms around her stomach in an attempt to protect the one thing in this world that means everything to her. A piece of light after so much darkness in the time she had spent in Hershey, under Doug’s control. “Y-you don’t have to do this, you don’t—please, this isn’t going to bring Doug back.”

It’s relief when she finds herself being pushed forwards, the side of her body hitting the wall harshly before she takes a deep breath. The pain throbs in her shoulder and her hip, eyes closing tightly as her bottom lip trembles. All that can be heard for a few minutes is the heavy breathing of both women – Maddie’s panicked and Emily’s frustrated, pacing back and forth as she mumbles under her breath.

“What’s your plan?” Maddie finally asks, hand moving to her chest as she tries to keep herself as calm as she possibly can. The words trigger something within her she tries not to think about, remembering the desperate look on Doug’s face as his grip tightened on the steering wheel in front of him. He hadn’t had a plan beyond getting her alone and getting rid of Chimney. She’s suddenly thankful he isn’t in the apartment, not sure if she can mentally cope with putting him in danger once more. “You must have a plan, right?”

“I have a plan.” The voice is cold, until the cold blade of the knife is pressed just below her collarbone, “I have a few hours alone with you to make you feel every bit of pain my brother must have felt in his last moments and then I’m going to take away someone you love.” There’s a dangerous smirk on her lips, the blade pressing even tighter until Maddie can feel blood dripping down onto her shirt. “You know, I moved to LA a few months ago, hell bent on killing your brother so you could know how it feels. But then I saw you… smiling and laughing, holding hands and then you went to the hospital, and the two of you came out and got in your car. You were both so damn happy, his hands kept moving to your stomach and I knew—I knew your beloved boyfriend would be the best revenge. Finish what my brother started.”

She hates the relief that rushes through her when she learns her brother is safe, that’s all she’s ever wanted for Buck. She had promised him when they were children that she would protect him from any harm she possibly could and she had tried so hard to stick to that promise, shielding him from the reality of her marriage with Doug. So much so, she had spent three years without talking to him. But Chimney, _her_ Chimney who was so looking forward to being a dad, it was all the two of them could talk about most of the time. Their excitement, their hope for the future. They had so many plans and Maddie wasn’t ready to let go of them, she wasn’t ready to see Chimney getting hurt at the hands of another Kendall, not again. Not ever.

The knife drops from her skin when Emily stumbles backwards and she hopes, even for a second, she gets some respite to think of a new plan. She has hours before Chimney comes home, she has time to think up something before… Maddie just wasn’t sure he’d survive a third time. The moment is brief when a clenched fist swings for her face, the pain barely registering when she gets lost in her own thoughts, her own trauma forcing her out of the apartment she shares with Chimney and right back into the snow at Big Bear.

Up until the point she hears the sound of the apartment door opening, both woman looking towards the sound as Chimney’s voice can be heard, “Hey, I’m home early—Bobby sent me home, not feeling too good. Maddie?” It’s undeniable panic in his voice when he shouts her name, the sound of his keys hitting the counter before the knife moves towards her throat.

“This works, too.”

Maddie feels herself being dragged towards the dining room, away from the bathroom door when she had been so close. The words ‘what would Athena do?’ echo through her mind when her eyes finally settle on the kind, warm but terrified eyes of her boyfriend. She can tell by the look on his face that he doesn’t know what to do or say, both his hands held up in front of him. But she can tell he’s connected the dots in his own mind, he’d know those eyes anywhere, Maddie had woken him up from more than one nightmare when he had been screaming out for ‘Jason’.

“Sit down.” The instruction is clear, and Chimney doesn’t hesitate in his movements, easily sliding down onto one of their dining chairs as he takes a breath. What would Athena do? Maddie’s mind keeps repeating it over and over again, even when she feels herself being pushed down into the nearest chair, the knife now pointed towards her boyfriend.

What would Athena do?

She’d fight, Maddie is sure the woman would fight and it’s exactly what she would do under normal circumstances but the slight flutter in her stomach reminds her that it’s just not possible. Her daughter is relying on her to make it out of this alive, she’s relying on both her parents to make it out of this alive. Yet, her eyes still connect with Chimney’s, a silent plan forming when they try and remind the other that no matter what, it’s two against one.

It’s Chimney who notices the way the woman’s hand is trembling as she holds out the knife towards him, and it prompts him to lunge forward without any warning, knocking her easily to the ground. His own stomach churning when he remembers exactly why he’s home in the first place. Maddie only watches for what seems like an eternity, her entire body frozen, but in reality is only seconds as the knife plunges so easily into his shoulder.

Doug. He’s all she can think about in that split second, how she can still feel the way the knife felt as she plunged it into his chest and then his back, over and over until…

It’s not the same. She can feel the way her body is giving up it’s fight in forcing down the panic attack that causes an intense burning pain in her chest increasingly, until it feels as though her husband is pressing down on her throat as he so often did. She can’t breathe, but the moment the knife is pulled from her boyfriends shoulder and held up in the air with every intention of repeating the movement, it’s her opportunity to throw herself forwards. It’s with enough intensity that the sound of the blade clattering to the ground seems to echo through the apartment.

She’s back in the snow, she feels the wet, cold surface beneath her as she scrambles to grab it before Emily can. Her fingers clasp around the item as it had done nearly two years before but this time, she pushes herself up and scrambles away from the other two until her back hits the nearest wall and she holds the knife close to her chest when the sobs begin.

All she can see is the blood pouring from Chimney’s shoulder, how he’s still on top of the other woman’s body, hands clasped around her wrist as he pins her down. He’s screaming at her, but she can’t hear it over the blood pumping in her ears and her panicked breathing.

What would Athena do? It springs back into her mind the moment her eyes snap open and she’s looking into the desperate, pain filled face of her boyfriend, his mouth open and words seemingly falling out until she just about catches the end, “… the police.”

Call the police. That’s what she needed to do, she needed to call the police, she needed—Maddie pulls her phone from her pocket, taking a breath before she dials three familiar numbers, hoping more than anything that the person who answers isn’t someone she knows.

“911 what’s your emergency?”

.

Maddie watches Chimney carefully when he winces, his legs swinging off the edge of the bed as he waits for the nurse to finish bandaging him up. He’s lucky. That’s what they keep telling them anyway, there should be no long-lasting damage. He’s _lucky_ , but Maddie doesn’t feel that sentiment. She wouldn’t blame him if he wanted nothing more to do with her, she knows he loves her but really… how much more can he take? She feels on edge, waiting for the day the eldest Kendall turns up seeking similar revenge for his son, just when she had thought she was moving on.

Doug could never just let her live in peace, even when she had said goodbye and promised herself that she was going to put him behind her. Not a life before Doug, during Doug or after Doug just… a life. A life with Chimney and their new baby.

Tears sting her eyes as she bites down on her lip, resting both hands on her stomach as though somehow, it’ll bring her any form of comfort she craves right then. She only tears her eyes away from her boyfriend when Hen practically bursts through the door, “What the hell happened? Bobby sent you home to rest, not to—” She’s only cut off by the glare on Chimney’s face when Maddie visibly flinches, falling into an awkward silence as Hen places her hand on her best friends back with a frown. “Can’t believe you’ve been stabbed again.”

“Hen, don’t.”

The exhaustion in Chimney’s voice is enough to make Maddie look over at him again, biting down on her lip before she stands up, “I should go.” They’re dating, she’s having his baby, they literally just moved in together and yet, she doesn’t feel as though she belongs. Hen has him, she can see the way Chimney is slowly leaning into the other woman as the nurse finishes up.

Chimney knows her, sometimes better than she knows herself, he can see the guilt on her face and the way she’s refusing to make eye contact with either him or Hen. Maddie can remember hating herself the moment she had seen him lying on the concrete floor outside her apartment building, blaming herself for Doug’s actions and it had taken such a long time to realise that she wasn’t responsible. It had taken hours and hours of therapy for her to move past it enough to finally end their minute. She had thought she had moved past it but the moment she had seen the blood pouring from his shoulder… the overwhelming guilt had forced her right back to Doug dragging her past Chimney’s bleeding body.

“Don’t do this, I want you here.” He’s quick to slide off the bed the moment he’s able to, Maddie’s frown deepening when she eyes the bandage and the sling. She can’t believe she had dragged him into more Kendall drama or that it was going to continue with police statements, court dates, reliving that moment over and over again. She can’t help but wonder what would have happened if he hadn’t come home when he had, if she would have been able to protect their unborn child for ten hours.

Everything since she had dialled 911 had happened so quickly, the police crashing through the door, Chimney finally being able to let go of the woman before the paramedics arrived. She can barely recall it in anything other than quick flashes of memory, how Chimney had run towards her the moment he could without a care in the world about his bleeding shoulder. How his arms had wrapped around her and his lips pressed to her nose. She couldn’t believe how she had put the man she loved in danger _again_.

She can tell by the look in his eyes though and the tiniest of smiles on his face that he doesn’t feel how she does. That the thoughts remain in her head, the guilt lives only in her heart and he’s just there hoping she can push past it enough to just be present. That’s all he ever asked from her, to just _be_ there. Maddie still doesn’t feel deserving when he wraps his good arm around her waist and pulls her closely to his side, she still doesn’t feel worthy when his lips press to her temple and he whispers that they’re going to be okay. She wonders, for just a second, if the blood stain is going to be easier to get from the hardwood floor than it was to get out of the concrete. The thought is enough to taste bile in her throat, her fingers wrapping tightly around his shirt when she places her hand on his chest.

Maddie hates the guilt she sees on his face, and the unshed tears in his eyes when his hand unwraps from her waist to press against the bandage on her chest, covering up where Emily had held the knife to her. Before his fingers move towards her face, tracing gentle outline on the bruise that is gradually forming. “I-I’m okay. You were stabbed.”

It’s entirely like Chimney to worry more about her than he does about himself. It wouldn’t matter the situation - his leg could be hanging off and she could have a mild concussion and he’d still worry more about her. It’s both appealing and terrifying to know just how much he loves and cares for her. “Our baby is okay?”

Maddie nods, “They looked, she’s fine, she’s strong… like her daddy.” At the look on his face, she bites down on her lip, “I’m fine, really. Just—bruising, bruised ribs… going to hurt to breathe for a few days but I um, it could have been worse.” It’s easy to find her hand moving down towards his stomach as she grimaces, “You came home early… why did you…”

“Just didn’t feel right, too much time out in the sun without enough water I think and then you didn’t reply to my very self-pitying text.” As well as he knows her, she knows him and she can tell by the lack of humour in his eyes that he’s trying to cover up his own feelings about everything that had happened in such a short amount of time a few hours before. He’d been cracking jokes in the ambulance, ones she had barely paid attention to as she stared at his shoulder. With the bleeding under control, eight stitches later, he had still been trying to keep his tone light when he mentioned it wasn’t _nearly_ as bad as being stabbed in the stomach and definitely wasn’t as bad as rebar. No coma. He had repeated the same words he had told her over a year ago, with the same sad smile on his face and tears in his eyes. She can tell what he’s doing, it’s what he always does but it doesn’t make her feel any better.

Her hand slips under his top, brushing her thumb along his stomach as she bites down on her lip, “I’m sorry.” He opens his mouth to protest but she quickly shakes her head, “You’ve been stabbed again because of me _again._ You do everything to keep me safe and I can’t even—”

“Maddie, I love you but… shut up.” It takes her by surprise, her hand faltering in its movements when she looks at him. In all the time she’s known him she doesn’t think he’s ever said those words to her and whilst there’s not an ounce of malice behind them, she’s still in shock. “Did you plan for me to get hurt?” Her head shakes, “Did you want this to happen?” She repeats the movement again, knowing exactly where he’s going with it when her shoulders slump and her eyes finally look into his. “Were you holding the knife?”

“N-no but…”

“I love you.”

“But…”

“I love you.” With a huff, Maddie can’t stop the pout from forming on her lips before she lets her head fall against his uninjured shoulder, hand rubbing slow, gentle circles on his stomach.

“Sorry you’re not feeling good.”

His hand comes to rest on her lower back, pulling her closer, “Oh, nothing like a knife to the shoulder to make you forget about a little queasiness.” Hen’s the one who lets out a snort of laughter, although Maddie only shifts a little closer to the man, keeping the motions of her hand as steady as she can despite the way her body trembles.

Both of them pull back ever so slightly at the sound of the door opening, Athena in her uniform walking through the door with a grave smile on her face that doesn’t reach her eyes. “Your doctor told me you’re being discharged, are you both okay to come down to the station and make your statements tonight or—”

Maddie nods, ready to get it over and done with as quickly as she possibly can, relieved when Chimney appears to have the same notion. In reality, she hadn’t been alone with Emily for barely thirty minutes before Chimney had walked through the door and everything that had followed was just fifteen minutes from their day. It seemed like such an insignificant amount of time but Maddie couldn’t think about anything else, running through all the what if’s in her head, knowing Chimney would be doing the same.

“You can both stay at mine tonight.” Hen is quick to chime in, before Athena can offer up her own house, causing both Maddie and Chimney to nod their heads gratefully. Considering their apartment was now a crime scene, Maddie suddenly feels glad that they get to say goodbye to that place in a few weeks and hello to the house they had only put an offer down on a few days before.

“Let’s just get this done with before the painkillers wear off.” Chimney presses his lips against Maddie’s just before he pulls back to take her hand in his own, “And I need to get this one to bed.” There’s a seriousness in his tone that lets Maddie know they’re probably in for a long night, underlying trauma on both sides probably eagerly waiting sleep to come so the nightmares can relive various memories of the past over and over again.

She finds herself leaning into his side as they walk behind Athena, simultaneously feeling as though she needs him whilst also feeling as though she doesn’t deserve him. “Thank you.” She finally whispers, just quiet enough so only he can hear her when the tears start to fall. He only frowns when he nods his head, squeezing her hand that little bit tighter when she inhales sharply. He knows it’s just her way of saying that she loves him, that she’s thankful for him, that whilst she wishes he hadn’t got hurt and she wishes he hadn’t been feeling unwell, she’s still glad he came home when he did. The unknown alternative is all too terrifying to even consider, unsure what Chimney would have come home to.

“I love you, too, Maddie.”


End file.
